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johnmcdonald  > Travel > Biking across Utah
A bicycle trip across southern Utah.
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johnmcdonald > In August 2006, my friend Ken and I rode our bikes from Cortez, Colorado to Bryce Canyon, Utah. These are my pictures from that trip (and a few that Ken took of me). Click on a picture to get a bigger view. We flew into Cortez on August 17. The last leg of the trip, from Denver to Cortez, was in a small plane; we were tossed around as we flew through afternoon thunderstorms. To save on hassle at the airport (and money), we'd shipped the bikes to the hotel ahead of time.
johnmcdonald > We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Cortez. Our bikes had arrived, but the manager wouldn't let us have them until the next morning, because he didn't want bicycles in the hotel rooms. This meant we couldn't get riding until 8 in the morning, when we'd wanted to start at 6:30. So if you're bicycling in southwestern Colorado, don't stay in the Holiday Inn!
johnmcdonald > Our first day's ride was from Cortez, CO to Blanding, UT, a little over 90 miles. We rode north on US 491 (it used to be US 666, the Devil's Highway, but they renamed it). There was a fair bit of traffic, but the shoulder was broad and smooth.
johnmcdonald > From US 491 we went west on Colorado road BB. It was a completely deserted road through gently rolling farmland.
johnmcdonald > Road BB joined up with Road 10, which headed southwest into Utah. This road is shown as gravel on all the maps I've seen, but it was paved this year. The countryside got dryer. Here Ken looks at the very first canyon of our trip.
johnmcdonald > The road to Hovenweep is gently downhill, so we zoomed through the desolation. I don't think we saw a single car in the 20 miles between Road BB and Hovenweep.
johnmcdonald > We parked our bikes at the Hovenweep visitor center, refilled our water bottles, put on regular shoes and hiked around the little canyon that the ruins are clustered around. The loop trail was about a mile. The ranger told me that many people come to the visitor center, look at the displays, and never walk down to look at the actual ruins. The first ruins are about a hundred yards down a paved trail!
johnmcdonald > The Anasazi built these ruins around 900 years ago. No one is sure what their function was--living quarters, defense, ceremonial, grain storage. Many are perched on rocks overlooking the small canyon. As you can see on the left, the Anasazi masons put small rocks in the chinks between larger stones.
johnmcdonald > After we left Hovenweep, the road was flat and barren for awhile. That's Ken taking a picture of the barrenness of it all. Then there were a couple of canyons that we went down into and had to climb out of. I hadn't looked at the topographic maps closely enough, so we weren't anticipating big climbs in the heat of the afternoon. We also ran into several miles of gravel road, which was exhausting.
Road BB joined up with Road 10, which headed southwest into Utah. This road is shown as gravel on all the maps I've seen, but it was paved this year. The countryside got dryer. Here Ken looks at the very first canyon of our trip.
> Road BB joined up with Road 10, which headed southwest into Utah. This road is shown as gravel on all the maps I've seen, but it was paved this year. The countryside got dryer. Here Ken looks at the very first canyon of our trip.
Road BB joined up with Road 10, which headed southwest into Utah. This road is shown as gravel on all the maps I've seen, but it was paved this year. The countryside got dryer. Here Ken looks at the very first canyon of our trip.
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